Magic: The Gathering Store Championship & More In-Store Play Changes Announced

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Wizards of the Coast has announced changes they're making with Magic: The Gathering's in-store play programs to help foster the community among Magic players. The changes will take effect when Ixalan launches this September.

First is the addition of the Store Championship events that will offer foil full-art promo cards that look at the next set for participants. They just pretty much renamed Game Day, and moved it at the end of a set's season. The winners will receive store champion playmats and program-exlusive deck boxes.

Store Championships start with Ixalan and will be held on December 30-31.

For Friday Night Magic, they're making a couple of changes: aligning promo FNM packages with seasons "By aligning seasons (which, to players, mostly indicated what promos you could receive) with the sets, we can better give players experiences that are relevant"; and a move to foil double-sided tokensfrom the then-current set rather than foil cards from recent Standard-legal sets.

The first three tokens are from Ixlaan, and will be given out at FNMs starting October 6.

For Standard Showdown, foil basic lands will be included in Standard Showdown booster prizes starting in Ixalan. Check out the first batch of lands. These Rebecca Guay lands look beautiful.

In addition to the in-store changes mentioned above, Magic Open House will also offer foil full-art promos for participants, and Magic Leagues will also offer promo cards.

It's good to see that Wizards is evolving their in-store play programs for Magic players, and I'm excited to see these changes come to life later this year.